Another Like Me (Avengers x child! Hydra! Reader)

Chapter eight

    (Y/n) was leading Matthew Murdock from his office to a local park in Hells Kitchen after she was left with him by Natasha. There was an attack on the Avengers and they wanted to make sure she was safe. Something about the young girl must have made Matt uneasy, because as she was thinking about how Natasha had to leave her team to escort (y/n) to Hells Kitchen, Matt broke the almost comfortable silence of their walk.

    "What's on your mind? You seem stressed." He continued walking as he spoke. (Y/n) was almost surprised as she was used to the quiet.

    "Well I was thinking about how Natasha had to leave the Avengers to come drop me off here. I mean, it wasn't a short drive, and she couldn't stay to help her family fight whatever it was." Her grip tightened on his bicep, however, being as fit as he was, she didn't think he'd notice. But he definitely did.

    He placed his free hand on top of her left hand and tried to silently reassure her she wasn't what she thought she was. He knew how it felt to feel worthless or like a burden.

    He shook his head and tried to change the subject.

    "What was your past like? Surely you had someone to rely on...?"

    She smiled to herself at the few fond memories she had of growing up. She figured that if she would start anywhere, it should be the bad things first. To clear the air.

    "When I was young, I lived with my mother in a Hydra facility. She wasn't supposed to get pregnant and I wasn't supposed to exist. Hydra made sure the rest of us were all sterile. They robbed me of any chance of happiness. For the first few years of my life, till I was around six, they let me do what I wanted. For the past ten years I've been forced to be an assassin for them. The fist job I went on was the night of my sixth birthday. There was a little four year old girl there too. And it was my job to kill her mom. I ended up waking the little girl. Poor thing...  she was a sweet girl and it stung me a bit." (Y/n) paused and Matt noticed her tense, taking in her full reaction, a slight shake of her hand to the tension in her shoulders.

    "When I was younger though, there was one soldier who was kind of a, well I don't really know how to word it. He was the first. The experiment. He was the trial run to make sure the serum worked the way they needed it to. They put him in a machine and he would wake up when they needed him. They called him The Fist Of Hydra. Some called him the Winter Soldier. But, well, I called him Winter. When I was young anyway. But it wasn't a reference to his title, it was a nickname of sorts. Because I had first met him during winter. He was the only other soldier I was allowed to be with. Even my mother. I was separated from her once I was able to move on from baby food."

    Matt nodded along, listening to every change in her voice, every change in pitch, every single one of the slightest quiver in her voice. He could tell when her voice cracked slightly. He continued to listen to her voice, slightly gruff from the years of dormancy. He picked up on the changes in her heartbeat. He could feel the changes in her posture and her body language. He gauged her footsteps and how much she could move with a single stride. He could feel how much mass the small girl took up and how much pain was laced and tucked away in her voice. He could hear all the truth in her voice, even as it wavered ever so slightly, as more and more memories resurfaced.

    He took all of this into account, and he cared. Matthew Murdock cared. Not for himself, no, never himself. For once, not for every single civilian. But instead for this single human being. This young girl who had been born into and forced to do terrible things. And he cared for her. He had sympathy for her. He felt for her. He wanted to take all of her pain away. But he knew, from his own life, that the pain she was forced to live with, would make her a better person. He promised himself, that from this day forward, he would help her. He would listen to her life and her problems and help her try to better herself because of it.

    "I don't know why I was allowed to be with him though. It never got explained to me. But I remember every mission I went on. I remember watching the life drain from people. It haunts me every night..."

    She broke off her train of thought and fell into a deep silence. Matt placed his hand on her right arm and squeezed it gently. He smiled to himself as everything he noticed came together. Why she only used her left hand around people. Why he couldn't sense body heat from her arm. And he realised, it was a high tech, sleek, metal arm. He didn't pick her brain about it though. As much as he wanted to, he remained silent.

    "Guess I should fill you in on the rest." She spoke, looking up to cross the street into the park. When it was safe, she led Matt across the road. "Every day that he wasn't in cyro or on a mission, I would spend by his side. We were, well we were friends. He didn't want to at first, but he let me into his life. I never understood why everyone called him The Winter Soldier, but I took to calling him Winter pretty fast. He didn't mind, not after a while."

    Matt listened to her voice, working itself out and becoming more and more hers. No longer gruff and unused, but rather smoother, becoming beautiful again.

    "I helped him with some things, like keeping his memories stored in notebooks. He escaped Hydra with a backpack filed with them. Notebooks we wrote in together. I kept a diary that I would write in every night, telling him how my day went. I never wanted him to be in pain. I always wanted him to be able to remember. So I helped with his memories. When his mind was erased, he forgot them. But we kept them in journals. And every time, he remembered me. But one day he went on a mission and never returned. That's all I remember."

    Matt nodded and smiled and reacted to her speech about her past. He noticed a change in the environment as they entered the tree covered park. He could feel her tense up as they walked down the dirt path between a thick groove of trees. He moved his hand from her arm and placed it on the small of her back, feeling as she relaxed.

    He wanted her to feel safe with him. With everything changing in her life, he figured he should remain a constant. A immovable force she could always depend on. She sighed and took in the view of the park as they continued down the path. Matt broke the silence once more with a small plan.

    "I was thinking, once were done walking here, would you like to get lunch, then come see my apartment?"

    "I would love that. Thank you for listening to me, by the way. I know it's not easy."

    Matt nodded. "It wasn't that bad. Don't worry. I've been through my share of bad pasts. Don't worry."

    She nodded and Matt wrapped an arm around her, letting the small girl guide him through the park.

Hey guys just a quick note! Thank you so very much for all the support on this story! Don't worry, I've got a lot planned for this and I just want to thank you for being so patient!! School recently started up and I would update sooner but my home laptop won't work and my school laptop won't let me get to Wattpad!! Thanks for sticking with it so far!!
-Mau 💚